Just call me spider woman.

For my Birthday I told Ben I wanted to go Rock Wall Climbing.  I wanted to do something fun and active. Something out of the ordinary. So this past weekend I finally got to cash in on my birthday present. I had a great time.  I climbed 3 different walls and was thoroughly tired by the end of it all. It was fun, exciting, and scary all at the same time. I think I'm hooked. I hope to take a belay class next month with a friend so we can go climbing once a month. While we were at the gym I saw grade school kids climbing too and I got really excited thinking that this could be family activity for us. I hope we can get Ella excited to climb too. Afterwards we had a great lunch at a near by lobster pound with some Allagash beer. Not bad for a second birthday if you ask me!   

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Lily update.

My little Lily Bean will be 1 year old soon! The time just flies by with the second kid.  Let's see... where to begin?  For starters she is very adventurous. She loves to explore every corner of this house, and I hate it.  I can't get anything done quickly when she is awake because she is always getting into trouble. Ella was not like this.  Although Ella never let me leave her side because she would cry until I would come and sit beside her.  Lily will entertain herself but not with the toys that she has been given. Her favorite activity is throwing laundry, clean or dirty, out of the basket, and chewing on every piece of furniture we own. By the way... She has 6 teeth and getting two more that I can see.   She is still a very happy baby.  She loves playing peek-a-boo, she likes to be chased, and then squeals when her sister squeals and laughs.  There is never a quiet moment in this house anymore.   Lily has found her voice and likes to use it.  And flat out refuses to use sign language.  I have been doing sign language with Lily since she was 5 months and she does not seem interested in communicating with her hands. She shakes her had "no" pushes my hand away or grabs at what she wants or grunts/screams when she is not getting her way. 

In addition to being adventurous she is standing by herself and sometime with out pulling up on any furniture.  She is also walking some with her pusher toy but prefers to crawl.  She crawls like a speed demon. With this increased activity she feel and hit her nose on the TV console last week and got a good bloody nose from it. Scared the crap out of me to say the least but the MD said she was fine.

She is still a Mamas girl.  Which I love.  It's so easy for me to get a smile or a laugh out of her. She still does not like to be held by strangers or even familiar people like friends.  I hope some of this will change once we get the chance to have a date night though. 

Soon I will take her into her one year check up and get all her stats but she is still a small baby.  As I was waiting to pick Ella up from school today I was talking to some other mothers who also had babies. The babies all looked the same size as Lily but you could tell they were not developmentally as far along as Lily. Come to find out they were only 3-4 months old. It will be interesting to see what percentage she is at her next visit.  Lets hope she moved up from the 5th%!  Next update on Lily will be the big 1 YEAR!!!!

First day of School!!!

Tuesday was really Ella's first day of school but parents had the option to stay through out class to get familiar with how the class runs so it didn't feel like the first day since I was in class with her. Ella did great.  She had fun, and was good girl and listened to her teachers.  She hardly noticed me standing in the back of the class. Afterwards I told her that the next day of school (Thursday)I would not be in class with her, and I would drop her off and pick her up when school was done.  She seemed concern about this for a little bit but whatever concern she had about being left at school was gone this morning. She was super excited to carry her own lunch box and we were ready to leave the house EARLY!! Amazing. Once we got to school she walked right in to the class and got down to business.   She started working on some crafts, looked up and said "Bye mommy, bye Lily!" I gave her a kiss and that was it. No tears.  At least not from her.  Thank goodness she didn't put up a fight. I don't think I could have handled it.  I have been sick to my stomach all week at the thought of leaving her at school, and finally the day has arrived.  But Lily and I had fun.  I made myself stay out of the house and do something I knew I would enjoy to take my mind off of Ella being at school.  I did a little shopping at Old Navy, and did some grocery shopping and by the end it was time to pick Ella up.  It was pleasant having only one kid for a few hours.  Very peaceful actually. And then when I picked Ella up we had some nice conversations about everything she did in school today.  So here we are. The parents of a soon to be 4 year old who is now in school!   

Even though I am sad that she is getting to be a big girl, I am excited for her to have these new experiences and make friends. I hope it will bring us closer and make me Cherish the days of the week that I have her to myself still.  Depending on where we move next she may start kindergarten and be in school 5 days a week next school year.  So I have to make sure I soak up every last bit of this at home time with my muffin because it's fading fast.